Vespertine Kingdoms
by WingsOfNight
Summary: Henry, a small boy about the age of 5 has his world changed forever when he finds himself caught up in the world of Lords, Ladies, Seasonal spirits and his teddy bear.


The land of Arberglade was known for it's cold winters but this winter had even the fires in the small village of Elmstag retreat and hide. Elmstag was like any other village in Arberglade, it had it spouts of financial difficulty and its shares of invaders but all was relatively peaceful within the hamlet. It's people were all simple farmers and merchants, they worked hard and all shared a common unity with each other.

This winter however the village elders could not afford to pay the local lord, Atran the Blade. He was known as "the Blade" due to his particular ruthlessness when dealing with his peasants and his even quicker reaction to its use. Slowly the town had begun to sink into a financial trap. Their crops had begun to die off quicker due to Winter's unrelenting fury. The merchants had nothing to sell and had all moved from the hamlet effectively putting the nail in the coffin. The lord's taxes had begun to grow even larger, his militia men paid even more visits to the small village to collect. Once the village elder's had said for the last time that they could not afford to pay for his taxes Atran had his soldiers take prisoners one by one till slowly there were only the elders and the children left and eventually the soldiers set fire to the village and watched as it all burnt to the ground. The smoke became so large that the snow storm had turned black and until night turned to the next day had the inferno ceased. The remaining children had all perished in the fire, their cries all snuffed out by Winter's howling fury.

Not all the children had died that day, Henry, son of the local seamstress had hid in the wood outside the village when the soldiers had come with their torches and blades. The boy stumbled in the blinding snow storm, his calls for his mother, unheeded and all he now owned was the rags he wore and the small bear he now carried with him. "Mum!" Henry called out "Mum! I wanna go home!"

Just as the other children's cries had been silenced, so too were Henry's under Winter's smothering cloak.

It wasn't until the third day of wandering the boy caught sight of a campfire and the tall palisades which marked the borders of the camp.

As Henry moved closer he began to realize the cold was getting to him and by the time he had reached the gates his eyes began to fail him. He stumbled into the camp and let out a whimper before blackness took him.

He awoke in a makeshift tent surrounded by strange men in steel and an elderly woman tending to Henry's weather worn body.

For the next few days he repeatedly slipped in and out of darkness and sleep till eventually waking long enough to ask where he was.

"Where am I?" asked the battered boy "Who are you?! Where is mum?" The elderly lady, attending to the wounded men across from him said in her small voice "Oh! You are awake child, I hope that your feel well, you gave us quite a scare good thing your alright." Henry gave her a puzzled look then asked again "Where is my mum?" The woman glanced at him while preparing him a bowl of stew, "There was no one with you sweetie, only you came and fell right into a deep sleep too, if you hadn't reached here sooner you would've surly frozen." The woman smiled as she handed him the bowl "And we also found your friend here!" she handed Henry his bear and he snatched it with glee.

"So where exactly am I?" asked Henry as he looked around the room in puzzlement. "You are inside a camp of Lord Atran's soldiers. We are on our way back to the castle, perhaps we will end up taking you along?" the old woman smiled, revealing the wrinkles which displayed not only the toll time has taken on her but that she has repeated her action many times in her life. "my name is Henry, what is yours?" Henry asked with a questioning look. The woman smiled and said "I am Viven." Henry went back to eating his stew and lapping up the stew he had been given and promptly asked for more.


End file.
